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The Anointing of Jesus in Mark's Gospel

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The Anointing of Jesus in Mark's Gospel Studies in the Bible and Antiquity Volume 5 Article 4 2013 “She Hath Wrought a Good Work”: The Anointing of Jesus in Mark's Gospel Julie M. Smith Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sba BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Smith, Julie M. (2013) "“She Hath Wrought a Good Work”: The Anointing of Jesus in Mark's Gospel," Studies in the Bible and Antiquity: Vol. 5 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sba/vol5/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in the Bible and Antiquity by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title “She Hath Wrought a Good Work”: The Anointing of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel Author(s) Julie M. Smith Reference Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 5 (2013): 31–46. ISSN 2151-7800 (print), 2168-3166 (online) Abstract In silence, an unnamed woman approaches Jesus and pours ointment on his head. Responding to criticism from his disciples, Jesus not only defends the wom- an’s actions but states that wherever the gospel is preached, her story will be told as a memorial of her (Mark 14:9). This enigmatic story has, surprisingly, received very little comment from biblical scholars over the centuries. Yet it is a veritable treasure trove of insight into the person of Jesus and his ministry: (1) anointing was, as Jesus himself explains, a prepara- tion for his burial. Both Jesus and the woman who anoints him understand that he will soon die; (2) anointing was also, in the biblical tradition, part of the coronation ritual for kings (see, for example, 1 Samuel 10:1)—both Jesus and the woman who anoints him understand that he is the King of Kings; (3) at a point where the disciples seem to understand only the glorious aspect or the suffering aspect of Jesus’s mission, the anointing woman’s actions show that she understands that both aspects must be integrated in the atoning mission of Jesus Christ; and (4) the Joseph Smith Translation of Mark 14:8 on first reading does not appear to add much to the story but on closer examination reveals a chiasmus that strengthens and nuances Jesus’s praise of the woman. “She Hath Wrought a Good Work”: The Anointing of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel Julie M. Smith ithout saying a word, a woman—unnamed and unbidden— Wenters a private home and anoints Jesus’s head. Some com- plain that the oil cost a year’s wages and suggest that the money may have been better spent on the poor. Jesus says to leave the woman alone because she has done a good work and that “this [act] . shall be spoken of for a memorial of her” (Mark 14:9). When we call Jesus the Christ, we are using the Greek word meaning “anointed” (Greek christos). When we call him the Messiah, we are doing the same with the Hebrew word for “anointed” (Hebrew meshiakh). The anointing story can teach us what it means when we say that Jesus is the Christ or the Messiah. This paper con- siders that story, its immediate and larger contexts, and its Joseph Smith Translation in order to explore what the anointing teaches us about the Anointed One. An indicator of its importance is that the story of Jesus’s anoint- ing is one of only very few incidents from Jesus’s life to be included in all four Gospels (Matthew 26:6–13; Mark 14:3–9; Luke 7:36–50; and John 12:1–8). While these four anointing stories have an intrigu- ing combination of shared themes and differing details that invite further reflection (e.g., Was there one anointing, or more than one? Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 5 (2013): 31–46 32 • Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 5 (2013) Which Gospel preserves the most historically accurate account?), this paper will consider only the anointing story found in the Gospel of Mark in order to focus on Mark’s unique perspective on the event. Each writer presents the story in a slightly different light in order to emphasize different facets of the event; focusing just on Mark’s account will permit us to see how this story explains what it means to be the Anointed One. The Anointing Anointing was performed in the ancient world for a variety of reasons, from the sacred to the mundane. In Mark’s story, Jesus’s anointing has several distinct purposes. We know it is a burial anointing because Jesus says that the woman has “anoint[ed] [his] body to the burying” (Mark 14:8). So one function of this anointing is as a typical burial ritual—premature, but prophetic. This woman recognizes—at a time when the disciples still have a hard time accepting the idea (see Mark 8:31–32)—that Jesus must die. But the anointing also fits the pattern for a royal anointing, which is the coronation of a king. The story is in a context of profuse royal imagery that begins with Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. Zechariah prophesied of the triumphal entry (see Zechariah 9:9), which we find recounted in Mark 11, and later associated the Mount of Olives with the coming of the Lord (see Zechariah 14:4). The royal imagery reaches its ironic climax in the mockery during Jesus’s trial and crucifixion (see Mark 14:61; 15:2, 9, 12, 17–20, 26, 32), where the ignorant unwittingly proclaim Jesus’s royal nature through their taunts. A major textual parallel to the anointing at Bethany, the anoint- ing of Saul by Samuel, is also a kingly anointing. The account in 1 Samuel 10:1 reads: “Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon [Saul’s] head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?” Most modern translations add the following to this verse, based on the manuscript evidence: “And you shall reign over the people of the “She Hath Wrought a Good Work” (Smith) • 33 Lord and you will save them from the hand of their enemies round about. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage” (1 Samuel 10:1 RSV).1 The sign is a very specific prophecy that is immediately fulfilled (see 1 Samuel 10:2–9). After the anointing at Bethany, Jesus commands the dis- ciples to make arrangements for the Passover, and they find every- thing to be as he said it would. In both Saul’s and Jesus’s anointings, the quickly filled prophecy authenticates the anointing, and the similarities between the two accounts suggest that both are royal anointings. The anointing at Bethany does violate some expectations since royal anointings were normally performed by a prophet. But when Jesus says that the woman “is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying” (Mark 14:8), he implies that she is acting propheti- cally since she knows of his impending death. The fact that Jesus’s head is anointed also supports the idea that this is the anointing of a king; as Ben Witherington notes, “royal figures are anointed from the head down.” 2 So there is ample evidence that this anointing fits the pattern for the coronation of a king. Additionally, the anointing also echoes the priestly anointing as described in the book of Leviticus (see Leviticus 8:12).3 Again, some expectations are violated: according to the law of Moses, priests are to be anointed in the tabernacle or temple; however, the Bethany anointing occurs in a leper’s house. But J. Duncan M. Derrett ar- gues persuasively that Mark has structured the Gospel in such a way as to suggest that the temple has become a leper’s house and 1. The additional material is found in the Septuagint but is missing from the Masoretic Text. Because the phrase hath anointed thee occurs twice in the verse, it is probably an instance where a scribe’s eye skipped from the first instance of the phrase to the second and accidentally omitted the intervening material. See Ralph W. Klein, 1 Samuel, 2nd ed. (Nashville: Nelson, 2008), 83. 2. Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 368. 3. See Eric D. Huntsman, God So Loved the World: The Final Days of the Savior’s Life (Salt Lake City: Desert Book, 2011), 44–45. 34 • Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 5 (2013) the leper’s house has become a temple.4 The procedure outlined in Leviticus for cleansing a leprous house consists of four steps, and each step finds a thematic parallel in Mark’s gospel. Leviticus pre- scribes, first, a cleansing of the leprous home (Leviticus 14:39–42), which is echoed by Jesus’s cleansing of the temple (Mark 11:15–19). Next, the priest will return to inspect the house (Leviticus 14:44); Jesus inspects the temple through his discussions with religious au- thorities that showcase the corruption of the temple system (Mark 11:27–12:40). The final evidence of corruption comes when the widow donates her mites: as a widow, she has claim upon the re- ligious leadership for her maintenance, but instead she is support- ing them in their decadence (Mark 12:41–44). This inversion of re- sponsibility becomes the consummate evidence of corruption and leads to the end of Jesus’s discussion with the authorities—that is, the end of his examination of corruption—and his prophecy of the temple’s coming destruction.
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